1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image producing apparatus such as a printing machine, a copying machine and a printer, and, more particularly, to control functions for such an image producing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, more image producing apparatuses have been installed in educational institutions as well as in business firms. Some schools have operators dedicated to operating such image producing apparatuses. However, most copying or printing jobs are carried out by teachers.
A variety of documents are copied or printed in the school. For instance, contents of copied or printed papers may be different in each class (class newspapers), may be different in grades (e.g., examination papers), or may be the same throughout the school (e.g., PTA newspaper).
In order to copy or print the foregoing papers, it is necessary to know the number of students per class, the number of students per grade, and the total number of students in the school. For instance, in the case of copies or prints whose contents differ for every grade or whose contents are the same throughout the school, copied or printed sheets should be stacked for respective classes according to the number of students per class.
Thus, a table is usually shown in the vicinity of a copying or printing machine, which indicates the number of students per grade and per class in the shape of a matrix. Referring to the table, a teacher enters and registers the number of student data in the copying or printing machine, thereby producing a desired number of copies or prints. When obtaining the desired copies or prints, he or she inserts a slip sheet or the like in order to discriminate previous copies or prints from succeeding ones. Then, he or she starts producing new copies or prints.
Therefore, copying or printing may be usually performed with reduced efficiency. Further, the foregoing table is indispensable.
There has been an image producing apparatus which provides a class mode and a memory mode as well as an ordinary mode. The class mode is selected when producing a plurality of sets of copies or prints, each set having the same number of sheets. The memory mode can store a plurality of set numbers indicating different quantities of copies or prints to be produced. However, when the image producing apparatus is used in a school where respective classes are different from one another in the number of students, the class mode cannot be used. Further, since a number of teachers may operate the image producing apparatus one after another, it is troublesome to remember memory numbers in which respective classes are stored. In particular the class mode or memory mode is difficult and complicated to operate.